HE: 

I08J 


Rescue  ttye  I^epublie 


The  Necessity  and  Advantages 

OWNERSHIP  OF 

AND    TELEGRAPHS 

With  answers  to    all    objections,  and  showing  the 

benefits  of  State  Ownership  in  other  countries, 

with  statistics,  and  the  opinions  of  leading 

statesmen  as  to  the  corruptions  and 

despotism  of  Railway  Corporations. 


-BY- 


HON.  THOS.  V.  GATOR 


OF   SAX   FRANCISCO 


Formerly  a  member  of  the  Congressional  Committee  of  the  National 

Anti-Monopoly  League  to  aid  the  passage  of  the  Interstate 

Commerce  Bill 


"History  proves  that  the  public  will  not  proceed  to  the  logical  and  final  solution  of  a 
t  question  until  all  compromises  have  fa  people  will  not  believe  that  a  mere 

make-shift  policy  until  they  have  tried  it.     They  will  have  no  teacher  but  expe- 

rience.    I'oi  .us  1  am  willing  to  aid  you  in  securing- the  "Interstate  Commerce  bill." 

will  disappoint  you  in  i  .  public  qn.  ;lrd  until  settled  right 

•••miplete  son  .>bK:in  but  i  !e  one 

.  rnmeiit  Ownership."— PROM  SFI  i:  NATIONAL 


PUBLISH 

d  to  at  nts;    twenty 

,   oider   to  Arthin 
I  Farrist >n  st  reel,  - 


I 

I 


National  Ownership  of  Railroads 


The  time  is  ripe!  The  hour  has  come.  The  necessity  is  urgent 
for  Government  Ownerships  of  Railroads  and  Telegraphs.  Delay 
endangers  the  existence  of  free  institutions.  Any  attempt  to  su- 
pervise and  control  them  effectually  has  proven  and  is  impos- 
sible. Control  means  an  attempt  by  acts  of  Congress  and  of 
Legislatures  to  create  Commissions  empowered  to  fix  sched- 
ules of  rates  and  tolls.  yThese  methods  have  been  conclusively 
demonstrated  to  be  impossible  to  execute.  In  our  form  of  Gov- 
ernment, the  final  refuge  of  despotism  and  monopoly  is  in  the 
courts.  ;  The  courts  have  emphatically  decided  that  neither  Con- 
gress nor  the  States,  by  legislation  or  commission,  can  provide  for 
or  put  into-  operation  any  schedules  of  rates  or  tolls,  to  bind  a  rail- 
way, which  cannot  be  restrained  by  injunction,  and  declared  void 
either  by  a  State  or  United  States  court,  if  upon  hearing  such  court 
deems  it  unreasonable  The  courts  say,  that  if  the  schedules  fixed 
by  the  power  of  law  are  not,  in  the  opinion  of  the  court,  reasonable, 
then  it  amounts  to  a  taking1  of  private  property,  for  public  use, 
without  just  compensation,  and  is  forbidden  by  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States.  This  has  been  decided  by  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States  in  the  cases  of  Stone  vs.  the  Farmers'  Com- 
pany, 116  U.  S.  Rep.,  p.  307,  and  in  Dow  vs.  Beidleman,  125  U.  S. 
Rep.,  p.  680;  also  in  U.  S.  Circuit  Court,  in  35  Fed.  Rep.  880-886; 
also  by  decisions  of  the  courts  of  last  resort  of  many  States,  which 
are  quoted  in  the  late  case  of  Water  Works  vs.  San  Francisco,  82 
Cal.  Rep.,  p.  286,  where  it  was  held  that  even  where  the  constitu- 
tion empowered  a  board  to  fix  rates  absolutely,  it  could  be  re- 
strained by  the  court  if  it  thought  other  and  higher  rates  proper. 

-  The  final  absolute  decision  of  our  courts  therefore  is,  that  the 
power  to  fix  rates  is  in  the  courts,  and  cannot  be  placed  elsewhere. 
What,  then,  is  the  rule  adopted  by  the  courts?  It  is  this:  that  the 
rates  must  pay — first,  the  interest  on  the  railway  debts;  second,  all 
its  operating  expenses;  and  third,  a  fair  dividend  on  its  capital 
stock.  What  these  sums  amount  to  must  be  determined  by  evi- 
dence, and  the  evidence  is,  first,  the  bonds  and  interest-bearing 
debt;  second,  the  capital  stock  as  fixed,  or  increased;  third,  the 
expenses  of  operation  shown  by  the  books  of  the  company — because 
no  one  is  in  a  position  to  disprove  these  books,  even  if  falsely  kept, 
as  to  operating  accounts. 

This  amounts  therefore  to  allowing  the  company  to  fix  its  own 
rates,  despite  and  in  defiance  of  any  attempt  to  regulate.  So  if  the 
Farmers'  Alliance  were  in  possession  of  every  branch  of  Govern- 
ment in  States  and  Nation,  it  would  be  helpless  to  regulate  or  con- 
trol railways.  Every  law  or  schedule  would  be  immediately  stayed 
by  the  injunction  of  a  court. 


This  was  done  when  Judge  Brewer,  by  injunction,  forbade  the 
State  of  Iowa  to  put  its  schedule  of  rates  into  operation,  at  the  suit 
of  the  Chicago  and  Northwestern  Railway  Company.  It  was  done 
when  the  Supreme  Court  of  California  prohibited  the  City  of  San 
Francisco  from  putting  its  schedule  of  water  rates  into  operation — 
and  that  such  is  to  be  the  course,  wherever  control  is  attempted,  is 
squarely  asserted  by  Mr.  C.  P.  Huntington  in  an  interview  pub- 
lished in  the  Examiner  at  San  Francisco  on  April  4,  1892.  When 
he  was  asked  what  would  be  done  if  any  political  action  should  be 
taken  by  the  "Merchants'  Traffic  Association"  to  compel  a  reduc- 
tion of  rates,  his  answer  was  as  follows: 

"I  will  say  that  the  association  may,  or  may  not,  draw  the  com- 
pany into  politics.  I  think  not;  but  if  the  Legislature  of  the  State 
passes  acts  tending  to  destroy  the  value  of  our  property,  we  shall 
have  to  call  for  protection  upon  the  Judicial  arm  of  the  Government" 

This  proves  that  henceforth  the  above  doctrine  established  by 
the  courts  is  to  be  the  shield  of  monopolies.  '  They  can  increase 
stock  and  bonds  at  pleasure.  So  that  no  income  would  be  so  large 
but  they  could  show  that  it  was  required  to  pay  interest,  operating 
expenses  and  dividends.  They  have .  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States  committed  to  this  doctrine.  These  Judges  hold  office 
for  life  or  good  behavior.  Are  we  to  permit  public  common  carriers 
to  lay  the  producer  under  tribute  for  all  time,  by  fixing  their  own 
rates,  by  taking  "all  the  traffic  will  bear?" 

The  railway  has  become  the  great  highway  of  nations.  The 
producer  must  have  railroads,  more  and  more  of  them,  of  the  great- 
est efficiency  and  operated  at  the  least  proper  cost.  It  is  a  function 
of  Government  to  own  and  control  all  public  highways.  Corpora- 
tions which  own  railroads  and  seek  the  largest  possible  dividends 
cannot  be  trustees  for  the  people.  -  They  simply  seek  their  own 
profit.  How  then  can  the  public  control  them  without  owning 
them  ?  It  is  idle  to  say  you  will  favor  ownership  by  the  Govern- 
ment if  control  fails,  because  every  effort  to  control  them  has,  and 
of  necessity  must,  fail,  until  the  people  own  and  operate  them. 
How  can  you  expect  to  join  such  inconsistent  things  as  private 
ownership  and  public  control  ?  The  right  to  control,  to  fix  rates,  is 
the  very  essence  of  property  and  of  ownership.  He  who  cannot  con- 
trol, does  not  inyW/own  property.  If  we  seek  by  boards,  commis- 
sions, legislatures,  congresses  or  courts,  to  frame  methods  and 
sources  to  control  railroads,  the  inevitable  law  of  self-interest  will  im- 
mediately induce  the  owner  to  own  also  these  boards  of  control,  by 
which,  as  we  have  seen,  all  such  commissions,  legislatures,  con- 
gresses and  courts  are  elected,  packed,  owned  by  that  monopoly. 
So  that  railroads  may  say,  as  did  Louis  XIV  in  the  supremacy  of 
his  despotism,  "I  am  the  State."  They  are  the  State.  They  are 
the  Government,  because  those  who  own  must  control  or  perish. 
Here,  then,  is  an  "irrepressible  conflict,"  continuous  in  its  nature. 
Lincoln  said  we  could  not  live  half  slave  and  half  free.  So  we  cannot 


live,  and  control  Government,  unless  we  remove  the  incentive  of 
railroads  to  control  our  Government,  and  there  is  but  one  way  to 
do  this — we  must  own  the  railroads  or  be  owned  by  them.  There 
is  no  middle  ground.  Experience  has  already  proven,  what  an 
inevitable  law  of  industry  and  private  enterprise  dictates. 

Other  Governments  own  and  operate  railroads  most  beneficially 
to  the  people.  Why  should  we  not  do  so  ?  Further  reference  in 
detail  to  this  will  be  made  in  another  place  in  this  discussion.  But 
it  is  no  very  great  matter  financially  for  the  people  to  obtain  these 
roads,  or  duplicate  them  by  construction.  We  felt  no  wonderful 
strain  in  paying  over  six  thousand  millions  of  dollars  in  a  war  to 
abolish  slavery.  There  every  dollar  was  outgo.  No  basis  was  laid 
for  future  income.  But  we  can  obtain  all  the  railroads  for  less  than 
that  sum,  and  in  addition  save  the  people  over  five  hundred  mill- 
ions of  dollars  per  year  at  once,  in  tolls,  and  more  and  more  in  the 
future,  and  at  the  same  time  substantially  end  a  source  of  corrup- 
tion which  will  subvert  the  Republic  if  permitted  to  continue. 

Let  us  examine  figures: 

The  railways  had  on  January  i,  1891,  in  the  United  States, 
163,420  miles  of  road,  capitalized  as  follows: 

Capital  stock $  4.640,239,578 

Funded  debt 5, 105,902,025 

Unfunded  debt 376,494,297 

Current  debt 271,145,220 

Total  capitalization $10,393,781,120 

The  total  revenues  for  the  year  were $  1, 199,722,053 

Expenditures  reported i»i47, 781,393 

Which  were  made  up  as  follows: 

Interest $  226,799,682 

Rents  and  interest  paid 59,129,924 

Miscellaneous  .    35, 174,333 

(Pretended)  operating  expenses 744>373>838 

Dividends 82,303,616 

Total |  1,147,781,393 

Excess  of  total  revenue  over  payments  was  $51,990,660,  which 
if  added  to  the  $82,303,616  above  mentioned,  and  also  paid  In  divi- 
dends, would  have  made  total  yearly  dividend  on  this  watered  capiital 
stock  apparently  less  than  3  per  cent.  So  if  all  the  railroads  were 
under  one  management  they  could  by  their  books  compel  the  courts 
to  prevent  any  reduction  of  present  charges.  When  we  remember 
that  they  can  increase  bonds  and  stock  almost  at  pleasure,  it  is 
easily  seen  that  they  can  defy  any  attempt  at  honest  regulation. 

The  total  honest  value  of  these  railways  is  very  little,  if  any, 
over  $4,000,000,000  (four  billions).  But  as  these  bonds  and  this 
stock  are  held  by  what  the  law  calls  third  parties,  the  court  adopts 
the  rule  that  it  cannot  disturb  vested  rights,  therefore  it  will  give 
interest  and  dividends  on  watered  stock. 

The  tendency  to  consolidation  is  so  great  that  in  a  short  time 
all  our  railways  will  be  in  very  few  and  finally  in  one  company. 


Imagine  the  political  despotism  of  such  a  syndicate!  At  present, 
although  there  are  on  paper  over  1700  companies,  yet  41  companies 
operate  77,872  miles,  and  74  companies  receive  80  per  cent  of  the 
amount  paid  for  railway  service.  C.  P.  Huntington  has  announced 
his  desire  to  see  all  railroads  in  the  United  States  under  one  Syndi- 
cate— thus  they  could  more  easily  escape  every  attempt  at  control; 
and  to  evade  the  last  vestige  of  any  law  which  can  affect  them  they 
will  soon  be  under  one  management. 

A  portion  of  what  can  be  saved  by  Government  ownership  is 
stated  in  the  Arena  by  Mr.  Davis,  a  practical  railroad  man,  as 
follows  : 

Savings  from  consolidations  of  depots  and  staffs $  20,000,000 

Savings  from  exclusive  use  of  shortest  routes 25,000,000 

Savings  in  attorney's  salaries  and  legal  expenses 12,000,000 

Savings  from  abrogation  of  the  pass  evil 30,000,000 

Savings  from  abrogation  of  commission  system 20,000,000 

Savings  from  dispensing  with  high-priced  officers  and  staffs ^  4,000,000 

Savings  by  disbanding  traffic  associations 4,000,000 

Savings  by  dispensing  with  Presidents,  etc 25,000,000 

Savings  by  abolishing  (all  but  local)  officers  and  solicitors,  etc 15,000,000 

Savings  of  five-sevenths  of  advertising  account 5,000,000 

Total $160,000,000 

In  addition  to  this  there  would  be  saved  : 

The  annual  political  corruption  fund $  30,000,000 

Secret  rebates  to  directors,  etc.,  who  compose  various  trusts  and 

combinations 50,000,000 

All  dividends  and  surplus 134,000,000 

Total $214,000,000 

Add  Mr.  Davis'  figures 160,000,000 

Total $374,000,000 

Now,  if  the  Government  paid  $5,000,000,000  to  obtain  these 
roads,  at  least  $1,000,000,000  would  be  paid  in  currency  issued  for 
that  purpose.  Personally  I  am  opposed  to  any  bonds  ;  but  if  the 
remainder,  $4,000,000,000,  drew  interest  at  2  per  cent,  the  interest 
charge  would  be  only  $80,000,000,  against  $226,000,000  paid  now 
by  the  roads,  which  would  save  $146,000,000  yearly  in  interest, 
which  added  to  the  above  would  make  the  total  savings  by  the 
people  jive  hundred  and  twenty  millions  of  dollars  per  year  at  once. 

But  it  is  said  by  objectors  that  the  employment  of  so  many 
persons  would  perpetuate  a  party  in  power.  This  idea  is  carefully 
fostered  and  put  forward  by  monopolists — who  at  every  age  of  the 
world  are  ready  to  oppose  great  reforms,  by  special  pleading — and 
by  appeals  to  false  fears  natural  to  the  conservatism  of  mankind. 
Forty  years  ago,  millions  of  our  people,  the  vast  majority  of  the 
nation,  admitted  the  intolerable  evils  of  African  Slavery,  and  were 
willing  to  abolish  it,  but  they  were  held  back  because  they  were 
made  to  believe  it  could  not  be  done  without  anarchy  and  mas- 
sacre. "  They  feared  that  the  emancipated  slaves  would  rise  en 


r,iasse,  attempt  to  exterminate  their  former  masters,  and  deluge  the 
South  with  bloodshed.  This  argument  was  put  forth  by  able  men, 
as  well  as  by  party  expediency,  and  the  vast  majority  honestly  be- 
lieved it,  just  as  many  now  believe  that  one-twentieth  of  the 
people,  if  employed  by  the  Government,  would  perpetuate  a  party 
in  power,  against  the  will  of  the  nineteen -twentieths  who  were  not 
in  public  service.  Well,  the  war  came ;  the  slaves  were  emanci- 
pated. None  of  the  fears  of  alarmists  were  realized.  No  slave 
attempted  any  insurrection.  Then  those  men  who  had  so  feared 
said  to  themselves  :  Why,  I  might  have  seen  there  was  no  such 
danger.  One  might  see  that  four  millions  of  creatures,  desirous  of 
freedom,  would  not  rise  up  and  become  murderers  because  their 
condition  was  improved — and  I  might  have  seen  that  four  millions 
of  negroes  could  not  hope  to  exterminate  six  times  as  many  whites 
and  therefore  they  would  make  no  attempt  of  the  kind.  None  of 
the  evils  which  monopolies  point  out  ever  happen.  Gold  men  of 
Wall  Street  have  cried  out  for  years,  that  even  limited  silver  coin- 
age would  ruin  the  country,  but  it  has  not  done  so.  But  there  are 
many  other  complete  answers  to  this  objection,  about  perpetuating 
party  power.  The  ownership  of  railroads  by  the  people  would,  in- 
stead of  perpetuating  the  power  of  any  party,  be  a  cause  for  the 
defeat  of  any  unfaithful  party,  much  sooner  than  now.  The  reason 
why  Government  officials  appear  to  have  undue  activity  in  politics 
is  because  they  are  the  only  persons,  outside  of  monopolies,  who 
always  feel  their  interest  directly  connected  with  the  Administration. 
This  is  so,  because  the  mass  of  people  find  that  the  Government 
does  not  perform  any  function  in  any  branch  of  industry.  But  the 
moment  the  whole  telegraphic  and  transportation  business  passes 
to  public  direction  and  control,  that  moment  every  producer  and 
consumer  will  come  to  see  and  feel  himself  closely  connected  with, 
and  interested  in,  the  Administration,  and  any  Administration,  in 
the  least  degree  false  to  that  great  trust  would  be  deposed  from 
power,  by  overwhelming  majorities. 

Again,  the  number  of  persons  employed  in  connection  with 
Railways,  who  are  voters,  is  about  six  hundred  thousand,  or  less 
than  one  out  of  twenty  of  the  thirteen  millions  of  persons  now  en- 
titled to  vote.  What  sane  man  can  suppose  that  these,  if  they 
acted  as  a  unit  (which  could  never  be),  could  uphold  any  adminis- 
tration against  the  millions  of  people  who  would  be  more  than  ever 
desirous  of  good  government.  Add  every  officeholder,  postmas- 
ter, telegraphic  agent,  and  person  in  the  public  service  of  the 
United  States,  and  the  whole  is  less  than  one  out  of  seventeen 
voters.  To  say  that  such  can  establish  despotism  or  injure  popu- 
lar right,  is  an  argument  suited  only  for  a  person  who  believes  all 
men  mad  and  fit  only  for  Asiatic  forms  of  government. 

But  these  employees  are  all  citizens,  and  like  ourselves,  inter- 
ested to  have  good  times  and  prosperity,  which  is  the  end  of  gov- 
ernment. 

Again,    the   employees   of  Government    when   railways    and 


8 

telegraphs  pass  to  public  control,  will  be  under  a  rigid  system  of 
Civil  Service,  and  none  but  the  very  Chief  Commissioners  of  trans- 
portation can  be  dismissed  with  a  change  of  Administration,  and 
those  only  for  cause.  Should  it  be  found  advisable,  those  in  public 
employment  might  be  required  to  refrain  from  primaries  and  nom- 
inating conventions.  Our  Federal  Constitution,  supposing  Presi- 
dential Electors  would  act  as  a  deliberative  body,  prohibits  any 
person  in  public  service  from  being  appointed  as  a  Presidential 
Elector. 

Hitherto  no  restraint  by  way  of  Civil  Service  has  been  placed 
upon  officeholders,  and  they  have  at  times  been  quite  active  in 
politics.  But  they  cannot  be  compared  to  employees  who  would  be 
under  regulations,  which  would  be  of  necessity  rigid,  and  strictly 
enforced  by  a  department  answerable  to  the  people  for  national  trans- 
portation. 

But  officeholders  have  never  had  much  weight  where  any  real 
principle  was  at  issue  between  parties.  Their  influence  is  never 
important,  except  when  parties  are  so  little  divided  as  to  leave  the 
mass  of  voters  indifferent  as  to  who  succeeds  ;  and  parties  change 
readily,  despite  their  efforts.  The  following  quotation  from  an 
editorial  in  the  " Chronicle"  San  Francisco,  February  9,  1890,  ex- 
presses the  matter  clearly  : 

"The  argument  often  advanced  against  the  ownership  of  rail- 
ways by  the  Government  of  the  United  States  is  that  the  railroads 
would  be  converted  into  mere  political  machines,  and  that  a  party 
once  in  power,  would  be  irrevocably  lodged  there,  by  virtue  of  the 
political  influence  it  could  exert  through  the  medium  of  the  Gov- 
ernment Railways.  .  This  is  about  on  a  par  with  the  assertion  made 
every  four  years,  that  the  Administration  cannot  be  defeated  on 
account  of  the  army  of  officeholders  ;  but  it  has  taken  only  four 
years  to  doubly  disprove  such  an  assertion.  The  Republicans  had 
the  officeholders  in  1884,  and  were  beaten;  the  Democrats  had  them, 
rank  and  file,  in  1888,  and  they  were  beaten.  _  It  is  the  people  who 
elect  Presidents  and  Congressmen." 

The  soundness  of  this  illustration  is  more  forcibly  shown  by 
the  fact  that  although  the  Republicans  were  in  full  possession  of 
the  offices,  and  of  every  branch  of  Government,  at  the  Congressional 
elections  of  1890  they  elected  only  88  Congressmen  out  of  333. 

Experience  has  also  proven  that  the  people  resent  nothing 
more  quickly  than  an  attempt  of  officeholders,  or  the  Administration, 
to  control  elections.  In  New  York,  in  1882,  the  favorite  for  Gover- 
nor with  the  Republican  masses  was  Cornell,  but  the  Administra- 
tration  at  Washington,  by  its  officeholders,  secured  the  nomination 
of  ex-Judge  Folger,  and  although  he  was  a  man  of  splendid 
abilities  and  irreproachable  character,  the  resentful  Republican 
voters  from  the  farms  and  workshops  defeated  him  by  almost  two 
hundred  thousand  majority,  merely  because  of  the  undue  inter- 
ference of  officeholders. 


Again,  the  operation  of  railways  and  telegraphs  is  no  experi- 
ment, but  a  matter  most  satisfactorily  tested  by  several  nations, 
Telegraphs  are  operated  by  Government  in  Great  Britain  and  many 
of  the  countries  of  Europe.  The  advantages  of  a  genuine  Govern- 
ment Postal  Telegraph  have  been  demonstrated  by  the  public 
speeches  and  writings  of  Hon.  Chas.  A.  Sumner  better  than  I  can 
hope  to  do,  and  further  discussion  of  this  branch  is  unnecessary. 
Railroads  are  owned  by  Government  in  Belgium,  India,  Hungary 
and  Australia,  and  to  some  extent  other  countries.  France  has 
conditioned  all  railway  franchises  to  obtain  a  reversion  to  the 
State,  at  a  certain  period,  of  all  such  property.  There  is  no  place 
where  public  ownership  has  not  proven  advantageous.  In  Belgium 
the  average  rate  for  passengers  is  only  one  cent  per  mile.  In  India 
the  roads  and  depots  are  in  splendid  condition,  and  rates  very  far 
below  those  in  the  United  States ;  in  some  cases  about  one-sixth  of 
our  charges. 

In  Hungary,  State  ownership  has  compelled  managers  of  pri- 
vate companies  to  admit  the  superior  wisdom  of  State  regulations; 
although  at  the  outset  they  said  the  State  could  not  wisely  con- 
trol. The  State  determined  to  establish  zones,  or  belts  of  distance, 
in  which  the  charges  should  proportionately  decrease  from  a  given 
center,  becoming  proportionately  less  where  population  was  sparse, 
thus  helping  those  producers  remote  from  markets,  and  the  result 
was  amazing.  In  a  single  year  the  passenger  travel  on  5000  miles 
of  road  grew  from  5,186,277  to  13,060,751.  There  was  likewise 
large  increase  in  freights,  and  a  relative  decrease  in  operating  ex- 
pense. 

The  comparisons  for  charges  there,  and  for  the  same  distances, 
as  near  as  may  be,  in  California,  taking  San  Francisco  as  a  center, 
are  shown  by  the  following  striking  table: 

HUNGARY.  PACIFIC  COAST. 

Miles.                                              Fare.  Miles.                                              Fare. 

Up  to    16 $o  22     Sail  Leaudro,  16 $  o  35 

Up  to    25 043     Pinole,  24 070 

Up  to    34 o  65     Benicia,    33 I  oo 

Up  to    43 o  87     Santa  Clara,  43 I  25 

Up  to    53 i  09    Autioch,  54 I  50 

Up  to    63 131     Batavia,  65 2  30 

Up  to    72 i  53    Treinont,  72 , 2  60 

Up  to    81 175     Santa  Cruz,  82 280 

Up  to    91 i  96    Sacramento,  90 3  30 

Up  to  100 2  18    Arcade,  98 3  50 

Up  to  109 2  40    Roseville,  108 3  60 

Up  to  125 2  62     Sheridan,  126 4  10 

Up  to  141 2  84    Marysville,  142 4  60 

Over    141 3  50    Humboldt,  374 16  55 

To  Finnic,  375 3  50    B.  Mountain,  474 21  55 

To  Predeal,  478 3  50 

The  above  figures  are  for  first-class  travel.  Second-class  tickets  in 
Hungary  cost  about  16  per  cent  less,  and  third-class  50  per  cent.  On  slovr 
trains  the  fares  are  still  lower. 

• 
It  will  be  seen  that  this  plan  benefits  the  producers  remote 


10 

from  centers  of  population,  as  well  as  consumers  in  those  centers, 
by  giving  freights  lower  in  proportion  to  the  faimers  who  are  re- 
mote. This  is  just  what  the  "Pacific  Coast  especially  needs,  and 
would  get  under  Government  ownership.  A  farmer  here  works 
just  as  hard  as  one  in  New  Jersey  or  Illinois,  and  by  a  system  of 
fares  and  freights,  which  is  lower  and  lower  proportionately,  as 
distance  increases  from  Chicago  or  New  York,  the  remote  farmer 
is  enabled  to  get  for  his  produce  very  nearly  what  the  one  near  to 
those  markets  obtains;  thus  distance  is  overcome,  and  value  of  sim- 
ilar labor  more  nearly  equalized  by  State  action,  for  which  purpose 
a  wise  Government  ought  to  exist.  If  now  we  turn  to  Australia 
we  find  the  State  railways  of  Victoria,  which  has  a  Government 
practically  as  democratic  as  our  own,  making  a  grand  success  of 
Government  railways,  where  no  one  but  the  State  is  permitted  to 
build  or  operate  them.  The  "Chronicle''  in  an  editorial,  February 
9,  1890,  referring  to  this  matter,  savs 

"Instead  of  lea.ng  corporations  build  the  railroads,  and  giving 
land  away  to  induce  them  to  do  this,  Victoria  has  kept  its  land  and 
built  its  own  railroads.  Seven  years  ago  the  income  from  the  rail- 
roads was  $9,000,000  ;  in  1886-7  it  was  $12,265,000,  and  last  year 
it  was  $16,500,000.  *  *  *  In  addition,  Victoria  owns  not  only 
the  postal  business,  as  the  United  States  does,  but  all  the  express 
business  and  all  the  telegraph  business,  and  last  year  the  profit  on 
these  was  over  $2,000,000.  *  *  *  It  will  not  be  many  years 
before  the  profits  on  the  railroads  will  pay  all  the  expenses  of 
Government. ' 

The  above  figures  are  net  income  or  profit,  as  for  the  same  year 
the  total  surplus  of  Victoria  (over  operating  expenses  on  railroads, 
telegraph  and  postal  business)  was  $34,400,000. 

Victoria  is  about  the  size  of  Kansas ;  has  a  population  of 
eleven  hundred  thousand,  with  about  2500  miles  of  railroad  and  10,360 
miles  of  telegraph  wires.  Although  wages  are  higher  there  than 
the  average  in  the  United  States,  these  railroads  had  cost  only 
about  one-half  as  much  per  mile  as  those  of  the  United  States  are 
capitalized  at.  In  proportion  to  her  population  the  ratio  ol  persons 
in  public  service  is  about  the  same  as  would  be  in  the  United 
States  under  public  ownership  of  railways  and  telegraphs,  yet  no 
one  has  perceived  any  danger  of  perpetuating  any  party  in  power, 
but  the  Administration  stands  or  falls  on  questions  of  policy  as 
approved  or  rejected  by  the  peoole. 

What  other  answers  to  this  objection  of  perpetuating  party 
power  are  needed  ?  The  objection  falls  flat  before  reason  and  experi- 
mental demonstration. 

But  let  us  view  the  question  of  perpetuating  power,  from  the 
opposite  side,  namely,  from  the  view  which  we  have  before  our  eyes 
of  our  Government  now  controlled  by  private  railroad  corporations. 
Why  will  men  look  to  a  future  mythical  and  impossible  danger 


II 

of  party  domination  by  Government  railroads — when  already, 
at  this  hour,  the  Government  is  an  industrial  despotism 
controlled  by  political  parties,  who  are  dominated  and  moved  like 
puppets,  at  the  behest  of,  and  in  the  interest  of  private  monopolies  ? 
Let  the  following"  undisputed  statements  of  commercial  bodies 
and  statesmen  receive  the  candid  thought  of  our  people.  The  New 
York  Board  of  Trade  and  Transportation,  one  of  the  most  conserv- 
ative bodies  of  merchants  in  the  United  States,  issued  a  circular 
statement  upon  the  dangers  ancl  corruptions  of  railroad  domination 
containing  the  following  extracts  : 

"When  and  where  has  the  world  ever  seen  such  aggregations 
of  wealth  as  have  been  suddenly  accumulated  by  the  carrier  taxing 
the  producer  and  merchant  ? 

*  'The  corruption  of  our  elections,  legislatures  and  courts — the 
undermining  of  the  very  foundations  upon  which  our  forefathers 
based  our  free  institutions — the  spectacle  exhibited  to  the  young,' 
of  chicanery  and  fraud  conferring  the  highest  prizes  of  society  upon 
its  *most  unscrupulous  and  unworthy  members — these  are  features 
of  our  modern  life  which  suggest  in  the  strongest  manner  a  future,\ 
if  not  a  present,  for  our  country,  '  Where  wealth  accumulates  and 
men  decay.1 

"If  any  are  disposed  to  question  the  truth  of  this  picture  lee 
them  consider  a  few  undisputed  facts.  It  is  not  disputed: 

"That  they  control  absolutely  the  legislatures  of  a  majority  of 
the  States  in  the  Union  ;  make  and  unmake  Governors,  United 
States  Senators  and  Congressmen,  and  under  the  forms  of  popular! 
government  are  practical  dictators  of  the  governmental  policy  of] 
the  United  States. 

11  That  within  twenty  years  two  hundred  million  of  acres  of  the 
public  lands  have  been  given  to  corporations,  equal  to  about  jour, 
acres  for  every  man,  woman  and  child  in  the  United  States. 

"  7/foAhis  wealth  and  power  has  been  acquired  largely  through" 
bribery  and  corruption.  Mr.  Gould  testified  in  1873  that  he  con- 
tributed money  to  control  legislation  in  four  States,  and  it  was 
proven  that  the  Erie  road,  in  a  single  year,  under  his  management, 
disbursed  more  than  $1,000,000  for  this  purpose. 

1 '  That  because  Senator  Thurman  was  active  in  compelling  the 
Pacific  railroads  to  fulfill  their  contracts  with  the  Government,  that 
honest  man  and  able  statesman  could  not  return  to  the  United 
States  Senate. 

"That's.  D.  Worcester,  Treasurer  of  the  New  York  Central 
Railroad,  testified  before  the  late  Constitutional  Convention  of 
the  State  of  New  York  that  that  road  paid  $205,000  one  year 
and  $5o,ooo  another  to  obtain  legislation,  and  that  it  was  ob- 
tained." 

Hon.  David  Davis,  once  a  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  and  a 
Senator  of  the  United  States,  thus  indicates  the  serious  nature  of 
the  problem  before  us  : 


12 

"The  rapid  growth  of  corporate  power  and  the  "malign  influ- 
ence which  it  exerts  by  combination  on  the  National  and  State 
Legislatures,  is  a  well-grounded  cause  for  alarm,  ff  A  struggle  is 
pending  in  the  near  future  between  this  overgrown  power,  with 
its  vast  ramifications  all  over  the  Union,  and  a j  hard  grip  on 
much  of  the  political  machinery ,  on  the  one  hand,"  and  the  .^people 
in  an  unorganized  condition  on  the  other ^  for jf control  |  of  the 
Government.  It  will  be  watched  by  every  patriot \with  intense 
anxiety." 

The  former  Secretary  of  the  ^Treasury;  Mr.  Windom'  in  a 
letter  to  the  President  of  the  Anti-Monopply^League,  says  : 

''The  channels  of  thought  and  the~channels "of  commerce  thus 
owned  and  controlled  by  one  man,  or  by  a  few  men,  what  is  to  re- 
strain corporate  power,  or  to  fix  a  limit  to  ?  its.  exactions  upon  the 
people?  What  is  then  to  hinder  these  men' from  depressing  or  in- 
flating the  value  of  all  kinds  of  property  to  suit  their  caprice  or 
avarice,  and  thereby  gathering  into  their  own  coffers  the  wealth  of 
the  nation?  Where  is  the  limit  to  such  a T power  as  this?  What 
shall  be  said  of  the  spirit  of  a  free  people  who  will  submit  without 
protest  to  be  thus  bound  hand  and  foot  ?/ 

Governor  Gray  of  a.ndiana,  in  a  message  to~  the  Legislature  of 
that  State,  said : 

"In  my  judgment  the  Republic  cannot  live"  long  in  the  atmos- 
phere which  now  surrounds  the  ballotbox. *  Moneyed  corporations, 
to  secure  favorable  legislation  for  themselves,  are  taking  an  active 
part  in  elections  by  furnishing  large  sums  of  money  to  corrupt  the 
voter  and  purchase  special  privileges  from  the  Government.  If 
money  can  control  the  decision  at  the  ballotbox  it  will  not  be  long 
until  it  can  control  its  existence." 

Governor  Bell  of  New  Hampshire,  in  his  inaugural  address  on 
Thursday,  June  2,  1881,  used  the  following  plain  language  : 

'  'The  improper  use  of  money  to  influence  popular  elections  is  a 
crying  evil  of  our  times.  It  has  become  so  general  that  little  or  no 
secrecy  is  made  of  it,  and  that  well-meaning  men  assume  to  justify 
it.  But  nothing  can  be  more  fatal  to  the  security  of  our  free  in- 
stitutions. When  the  longest  purse  secures  the  election  to  office, 
we  may  bid  farewell  to  liberty  and  virtue  in  the  Government.  This 
matter  is  too  plain  for  argument." 

The  third  semi-annual  report  of  the  Railroad  Commissioners  of 
the  State  of  Georgia,  submitted  May  j,  1881,  says  : 

"The  moral  and  social  consequences  of  these  corruptions  are 
even  worse  than  the  political  ;  they  are  simply  appalling.  We 
contemplate  them  with  anxiety  and  dismay.  The  demoralization 


13 

is  worse  than  that  of  war — as  fraud  is  meaner  than  force,  and  trick- 
ery than  violence." 

Hon.  James  B.  Beck  of  Kentucky,  in  one  of  his  speeches  in  the 
United  States  Senate,  said  : 

"It  is  impossible  to  have  an  honest  Legislature,  State  or  Fed- 
eral, so  long  as  representatives  are  sent  who  owe  their  election  tor 
or  are  personally  interested  in  great  moneyed  corporation  or  monop- 
olies. No  matter  whether  they  call  themselves  Democrats  or  Re- 
publicans, they  are  not  the  representatives  of  the  people  ;  they  are 
simply  the  agents  and  attorneys  of  those  who  seek,  by  taxing  the 
masses,  to  enrich  themselves  whenever  they  owe  their  election  to 
monopolists,  or  are  themselves  interested  in  class  legislation." 

On  the  27th  day  of  January,  1880,  Mr.  Go  wen,  the  President 
of  the  Philadelphia  and  Reading  Railroad,  in  an  argument  before 
the  Committee  on  Commerce  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the 
United  States,  in  Washington,  said  : 

'  'I  have  heard  the  counsel  of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  Com- 
pany, standing  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  Pennsylvania,  threaten 
that  Court  with  the  displeasure  of  his  clients  if  it  decided  against 
them,  and  all  the  blood  in  my  body  tingled  with  shame  at  the 
humiliating  spectacle." 

Hon.  Jeremiah  S.  Black,  ex-Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  and 
ex- Attorney  General  of  the  United  States,  said  : 

"All  public  men  must  take  their  side  on  this  question.  There 
can  be  no  neutrals.  He  that  is  not  for  us  is  against  us. ' ' 

And  observe  with  care  the  following  extracts  from  the  address 
made  this  year  (1891)  at  Chicago,  at  the  unveiling  of  Grant's  Monu- 
ment, by  Judge  Walter  Q.  Gresham  : 

*  "It  is  worse  than  idle  to  shut  our  eyes  to  the  existence  of  cor- 
rupt methods  and  practices  in  our  politics,  which  threaten  to  sub- 
vert our  free  institutions.  *  *  *  And  men  who  contribute 
money  to  buy  votes,  and  to  bribe  the  people's  representatives,  as 
well  as  those  who  disburse  it,  are  deadly  enemies  of  the  Republic. 
#  #  #  They  may  masquerade  in  the  garb  of  righteousness,  and 
address  the  people  in  the  language  of  patriotism,  but  their  virtues 
are  assumed,  they  are  hypocrites  and  assassins  of  liberty,  and  would 
welcome  dynasty  "rather  than  shed  their  blood  in  defense  of  popular 
Government.  Their  shameless  and  insidious  attacks  on  free  in- 
stitutions are  infinitely  more  dangerous  than  the  revolutionary 
teachings  and  practices  of  a  comparatively  few  visionary  and  mis- 
guided men  and  women  in  our  large  cities. ' ' 

But  listen  to  the  report  of  the  Grand  Jury  of  San  Francisco — 


14 

publicly  filed  in  open  court  on  December  23,  1891,  which,  after 
finding  that  the  Legislature  elected  by  the  railroad  power  in  1890 
contained  an  organized  combination,  with  its  agents  and  brokers, 
to  sell  legislation  to  the  highest  bidders,  concludes  as  follows: 

"The  rapacious  horde  ought  to  be  driven  into  the  sea;  but  are 
we  forced  to  the  melancholy  conclusion  that  the  abstention  of  the 
railways  from  participation  in  public  affairs  is  the  only  condition  of 
freedom  from  this  defilement?  Is  their  power  all-pervading,  and 
shall  there  be  no  limit  in  point  of  time  to  their  supremacy  ?  No 
class  seeks  to  confiscate  their  property  or  depreciate  the  services 
the  managers  have  rendered  the  State.  But  it  infects  everything 
it  touches  politically.  For  its  aims  are  solely  selfish — financially 
selfish.  It  has  debauched  both  parties  until  an  honest  man  cannot, 
without  fear  of  contamination,  aspire  to  political  office." 

Henry  Ward  Beecher  told  us,  in  1881,  that  five  or  ten  men, 
controlling  ten  thousand  miles  of  railroads  and  billions  of  property, 
had  their  hands  on  the  throat  of  commerce,  and  '  !if  they  should 
need  to  have  a  man  in  sympathy  with  them  in  the  Kxecutive  chair 
it  would  require  only  five  pockets  to  put  him  there." 

Does  not  the  position  at  which  we  have  arrived  show  the  truth 
of  the  words  of  Daniel  Webster,  who  said: 

"The freest  Government  cannot  long  endure,  where  the  tendency 
cf the  law  is  to  create  a  rapid  accumulation  of  property  in  the  hands  of 
£•  ''few,  and  to  render  the  masses  of  the  people  poor  and  dependent.  " 

We  have  indeed  reached  the  hour  foreseen  by  the  prophetic 
Abraham  Lincoln,  when  near  the  close  of  the  war  he  said:  "It  has 
been  indeed  a  trying  hour  for  the  Republic;  but  I  see  in  the  near 
future  a  crisis  approaching  that  unnerves  me,  and  causes  me  to 
tremble  for  the  safety  of  our  country. 

"As  a  result  of  the  war  coporations  have  been  enthroned,  and 
an  era  of  corruption  in  high  places  will  follow,  and  the  money  power 
of  the  country  will  endeavor  to  prolong  its  reign  by  working  upon 
the  prejudices  of  the  people  until  all  wealth  is  aggregated  in  a  few 
hands,  and  the  Republic  is  destroyed. 

"I  feel  at  this  moment  more  anxiety  for  the  safety  of  my  coun- 
try than  ever  before,  even  in  the  midst  of  the  war. ' ' 

Thus  we  see,  by  broad  daylight,  that  it  is  not  Government 
ownership  of  railroads,  but  private  owuership,  which  will  destroy 
the  Republic.  The  money  they  can  drain  from  the  public,  and  use 
as  a  corruption  fund,  will  control  a  vastly  greater 'number  of  votes 
than  could  ever  be  controlled  by  Government  employees. 

But  in  addition  to  the  money  used  by  railroad  corporations, 
and  the  terror  they  inspire  in  shippers,  whom  they  can  injure  in 
many  ways,  they  practically  demand  political  allegiance  from  most 
of  their  employees  whenever  occasion  requires  it.  An  instance  of 


15 

this  is  proven  from  the  vote  in  California  in  1882  for  Governor 
Stoneman,  The  Southern  Pacific  Company  is  by  preference  a  Re- 
publican corporation,  if  that  party  serves  its  interests  as?  directed 
from  the  company's  office.  But  in  1882  the  Republican  State  Con- 
vention passed  strong  anti-mononoly  resolutions  and  nominated  its 
candidate  for  Governor.  The  Democratic  Convention  adopted 
resolutions  perhaps  as  strong  as  those  01  the  Republicans.  But 
that  was  not  the  point  with  the  railroad  company.  It  was  angry 
because  the  Republican  Convention  had  kicked — and  determined  to 
punish  and  discipline  that  party,  and  show  it  that  its  existence  in 
the  State  depended  upon  obeying  the  railroad  company.  A  canvass 
was  made  among  their  employees.  In  1880  the  Democratic  ma- 
jority was  117  in  the  State  for  Hancock,  and  in  1882  it  was  23,519 
for  Stoneman  for  Governor  —  a  Democratic  gain  of  23,402  out 
of  a  total  vote  of  only  164,679,  or  a  change  of  one  vote  in  seven. 
In  Alameda  county,  where  the  railroad  is  most  potent,  there  was  a 
Democratic  gain  of  2269,  out  of  9257  votes  cast.  There  the  railroad 
changed  one  vote  out  of  every  four.  Now,  a  change  of  one  vote 
out  of  seven  would  in  1896,  when  there  will  be  over  fourteen 
million  votes  in  the  nation,  amount  to  two  million  votes  in  the 
control  of  the  railroad  power  in  the  United  States.  Which,  then, 
is  most  potent  for  perpetuating  parties  in  power — Government  own- 
ership under  strict  Civil  Service,  or  private  corporations  controlling 
two  millions  of  votes  in  the  nation  ? 

The  enormous  evils  of  unjust  discrimination,  between  not  only 
individuals  but  places,  has  been  shown  times  without  number. 
The  Cullom  Senate  committee  reported  that  the  most  glaring  favor- 
itism existed  in  favor  of  large  capitalists,  and  that  the  result  was 
most  disastrous  to  the  smaller  shippers.  Favoritism  also  is  shown 
to  trusts  and  syndicates  composed  mainly  of  directors  and  large 
stockholders  in  the  railroads,  who  thereby  secretly  give  rebates  to 
themselves.  Trusts  and  combinations  have  no  more  powerful  ally 
than  railroads  in  private  hands.  Recently  the  Northern  Pacific 
Railway  refused  to  stop  its  -.rains  or  have  a  depot  in  one  of  the 
largest  i;owns  for  about  a  hundred  miles  on  its  route  in  Montana, 
but  passed  through  and  built  a  depot  upon  lands  of  its  own,  about 
three  miles  beyond,  in  order  to  build  up  a  new  town  on  its  land  and 
thereby  enhance  its  value.  Upon  appeal  to  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States  it  was  held  that  the  railway  could  do  this, 
although  some  of  the  Judges  dissented  and  stated  that  such  a  power 
was  despotic  and  destructive  of  public  rights.  Still — it  is  the  law, 
made  so  by  the  court  of  last  resort.  It  is  well  known  that  the  In- 
ters'ate  Commerce  law  is  systematically  defied.  This  has  been 
shown  by  a  recent  United  States  Grand  Jury  at  Chicago.  But  the 
devices  by  which  favoritism  may  be  given  to  friends  are  so  numer- 
ous and  so  subtle  that  no  law  can  be  passed  which  cannot  be  evaded 
by  those  whose  power  in  Government  is  so  great. 

Government  ownership  is  the  only  remedy.  The  long  struggle 
for  Railroad  Commissions  served  only  to  cause  the  companies  to 


i6 

control  a  majority  of  the  Commissioners.  They  have  been  able  to 
dc  this  in  nearly  every  State,  and  where  they  cannot  do  so  they 
can  resort  to  the  courts  to  stay  the  acts  of  the  Commissioners,  as 
has  been  shown  in  the  first  part  of  this  article. 

California  is  a  fair  evidence  of  the  Supremacy  of  Railway 
power  cvei  the  Constitution,  which,  in  1879,  laid  upon  the  Rail- 
road Commissioners  the  absolute  duty  to  fix  railroad  rates  and  fares 
in  detail;  but  the  Commission  has  defied  the  law,  and  smiles  at  the 
the  Merchants'  Traffic  Association,  which  urges  it  to  proceed  to 
perform  the  duty  enjoined  by  law.  The  Legislature  has  power  to 
remove  them  from  office.  But  they  look  to  the  Railroad  to  prevent 
the  election  of  a  Legislature  that  would  stand  by  the  public.  An 
editorial  from  the  Examiner,  San  Francisco,  February,  1892,  refers 
to  this  in  language  showing  the  subversion  of  the  State  by  Railroad 
power.  The  provision  of  the  California  State  Constitution  is  as 
follows: 

"Said  Commissioners  shall  have  the  power,  and  it  shall  be 
their  duty,  to  establish  rates  of  charges  for  the  transportation  of 
passengers  and  freights  by  railroad  or  other  transportation  com- 
panies." 

The  editorial  quotes  this  and  proceeds  to  say: 

* 'Nothing  could  be  clearer  than  this;  but  a  small  thing  like  the 
organic  lav/  of  the  State  cannot,  in  the  light  of  experience,  be  ex- 
pected to  stand  as  a  bar  against  the  Southern  Pacific  having  its 
own  way  when  it  wants  it.  Had  we  a  Railroad  Commission  com- 
posed of  men  invincible  to  every  influence  save  their  sense  of  duty, 
the  railroad  company  would  defy  it  in  earnest,  and  who  can  doubt 
what  the  result  of  the  contest  in  the  courts  would  be,  should  the 
conditions  be  the  same  as  have  hitherto  prevailed  ?  Our  Judges, 
State  and  Federal,  have  already,  in  many  a  California  case,  taught 
us  that  there  exists  a  principle  higher  than  any  law,  organic  or 
statutory,  which  will  be  applied  by  the  Bench  when  needed.  That 
principle  is  that  men  who  are  influential  enough  to  make  and 
unmake  Judges  can  do  as  they  please. " 

The  very  best  minds  of  the  nation  have  favored  Government 
ownership.  Among  political  economists,  Professor  Richard  T.  Ely 
of  Johns  Hopkins  University;  among  business  men,  Pierre  Lorril- 
lard;  and  among  farmers,  General  John  Bidwell — are  types  of  those 
who  have  carefully  considered  the  question  and  pronounced  for 
National  ownership.  The  President  of  the  Chicago  and  Alton  Rail- 
road, in  his  report  for  1891,  recommends  it;  and  I  am  informed 
that  Senator  Leland  Stanford  has  said  in  conversation  that  he  was 
not  prepared  to  oppose  the  claim  that  Government  management 
could  give  cheaper  rates  to  the  people.  * 

It  is  to  be  remembered  that  vast  millions  would  also  be  saved 
to  the  people  by  the  practical  destruction  of  coal  and  other  combi- 
nations, which  are  practically  identical  with  certain  great  railway 


17 

syndicates,  like  the  Reading,  Lehigh  Valley  and  Jersey  Central 
combine,  by  which  production  is  limited  and  prices  enormously 
enhanced.  The  ownership  by  Government  ol  transportation  lines 
includes  also  the  Express  business,  which  would  in  many  cases  not 
exceed  one-fourth  the  present  cost.  The  Pacific  Mail  Steamship 
lines  would  resume  their  proper  functions,  and  subsidies  to  prevent 
competition  would  cease.  Many  other  advantages  might  be  enu- 
merated, such  as  the  more  speedy  utilization  of  patents  and  im- 
provments  in  transportation. 

The  roads  in  private  hands  have  been  productive  of  enormous 
destruction  to  life  and  limb.  Last  year  the  killed  and  wounded  in 
the  United  States  numbered  35,359.  The  following  gives  a  com- 
parison between  certain  countries: 

Killed.      Wounded. 

United  States 6,334  29,025 

Great  Britain 1,076  4,721 

France 37Q  709 

Prussia 402  l».379 

We  have  more  railroads,  but  still  the  number  killed  in  propor- 
tion to  passengers  carried  one  mile  is  as  follows:  In  France,  one  to 
every  24,000,000;  England,  one  to  every  21,000,000;  Germany,  one 
to  every  9,000,000;  United  States,  one  to  every  2,800,000.  This 
shows  very  reckless  operation. 

Government  ownership  would  abolish  an  enormous  and  har- 
rassing  litigation,  now  carried  on  to  the  death  by  the  companies, 
regardless  of  right. 

National  operation  wonld  be  of  great  value  in  the  detection  of 
certain  crimes,  and  in  preventing  illicit  transportation. 

Some  persons  range  their  objection  under  the  cheap  phrase 
that  "they  are  opposed  to  paternal  government."  But  all  govern- 
ment is  of  necessity  of  that  nature.  These  persons  when  their 
house  is  on  fire  are  not  opposed  to  paternal  government,  by 
a  thorough  fire  department.  If  their  property  is  liable  to  be  as- 
sailed they  do  not  oppose  a  paternal  efficient  police  force,  or 
to  keep  down  insurrection  a  large  army  and  navy  under  na- 
tional control.  Oh,  no!  In  order  that  no  man  or  thief  shall 
lay  hand  on  one  dollar  of  their  acquisitions,  or  set  foot  on 
one  acre  of  their  land,  they  are  desirous  of  paternal  government; 
but  if  it  is  good  to  so  protect  them,  can  it  be  wrong  and  bad  to 
institute  National  ownership  of  transportation,  in  order  to  prevent 
private  corporations  from  taking  all  the  surplus  ol  producers  by  the 
tribute  levied  to  pay  interest  on  stock  watered  many  times?  Men 
who  so  use  this  phrase  are  ignorant  ol  the  meaning  01  words. 

The  relation  ot  strikes  to  the  railway  problem  cannot  be  omit- 
ted. The  friction  between  enormous  combinations  01  capital  and 
its  wage- workers  becomes  yearly  greater;  and  of  all  strikes,  those 
of  railway  employees  are  capable  of  becoming  the  most  disastrous; 
and  strikes  of  this  nature,  extending  over  vast  regions,  if  not  at 
some  time  over  the  entire  nation  at  once,  are  liable  to  occur,  when, 
as  is  certain  to  happen,  the  corporations  pass  to  a  certain,  few,  if 


i8 

not  to  a  single  Syndicate.^  What  can  be  the  result  of  such  a  state 
of  affairs  ?  If  the  corporations  attempt  to  supply  this  vast  field  with 
new  men,  and  should  succeed,  very  great  demoralization  must  en- 
sue, and  human  life  and  limb  be  at  very  greatly  increased  danger. 
But,  could  a  universal  or  very  extended  strike  on  the  railways  be 
so  handled  by  the  companies  as  to  prevent  for  a  time  the  loss  of 
tens  or  hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars'  worth  of  perishable  products 
and  the  prostration  of  much  business  ?  These  are  serious  matters  to 
contemplate,  and  very  properly  to  be  considered  in  any  discussion 
of  Government  ownership,  where  such  a  thing  will  not  occur. 
There  is  no  instance  of  a  strike  in  public  service,  and  for  very  ob- 
vious reasons. 

Stock  Gambling  is  the  cause  of  widespread  business  disasters; 
produces  a  feverish  state  of  fluctuations,  and  is  appalling  in  its 
moral  consequences.  The  land  is  filled  with  wrecks  of  human 
beings  victims  to  its  delusions.  Male  and  female,  rich  and  poor, 
all  orders  of  people,  are  drunken  at  its  intoxicating  shrine.  This 
Harlot  sits  a  Queen  in  the  Babylon  of  Wall  Street,  holding  up  the 
Golden  Cup  full  of  abominations.  Now,  Stock  Gambling  rose  to 
a  great  height  Justin  proportion  as  railroad  stocks  increased  in 
volume,  and  eight- tenths  of  all  Stock  Gambling  is  in  railroad 
stocks.  While  mining  stock  would  leave  a  limited  field  for  this 
evil,  it  can  safely  be  claimed,  that  with  Government  ownership  of 
railroads,  by  which  all  railroad  stock  would  cease  to  exist,  this 
evil  would  be  so  reduced  as  to  effect  a  mighty  reformation. 

But  this  discussion  is  already  lengthy.  The  independent  and 
non-partisan  press  is  practically  a  unit  for  Government  ownership. 
Upon  the  Pacific  Coast  the  "Chronicle"  has  repeatedly  editorially 
advocated  it.  The  "Examiner11  has  expressed  itself  as  willing  to 
adopt  this  demand,  and  it  may  be  safely  asserted  that  a  great  pre- 
ponderance of  the  scientific  and  intellectual  forces  of  the  country, 
which  have  carefully  examined  the  subject,  are  favorable  to  this 
solution.  The  Farmers'  Alliance  and  all  great  bodies  of  industrial 
producers  show  strong  majorities  for  it.  The  whole  empire  of  ex- 
perience and  reason  demands  it.  By  this  means  we  may  save  the 
Nation  from  the  blasting  and  withering  railroad  corruption,  to 
which  the  gigantic  interest  of  the  private  companies  has  brought 
us.  No  device  or  method  can  ever  control  railway  rates  or  obtain 
justice  while  they  are  owned  by  corporations.  National  Ownership 
is  the  only  remedy.  '  'Neither  is  there  salvation  in  any  other. " 

Railways,  and  Circulating  Currency  are  implements  of  industry. 
The  Government  must  own  the  former,  and  supply  and  regulate 
the  latter.  If  this  is  not  done,  and  done  speedily,  the  masses  of 
the  people  will  be  ground  to  industrial  ruin  between  the  upper  and 
nether  millstone  of  these  twin  engines  of  modern  civilization. 
212  Sansome  Street,  San  Francisco,  April  IT,  1892. 


' 


